Ralph Fiennes

Toronto International Film Festival

Actor-director
Ralph Fiennes poses during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival,
September 7, 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

The
twice-Oscar-nominated actor, best known for his gripping performances in
"Schindler's List," "The English Patient," and as the
villainous Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" films, has directed his
second feature film, "The Invisible Woman," about the celebrated
novelist Charles Dickens and his mistress.

By CBSNews.com
senior producer David Morgan

Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images

"The Invisible Woman"

Ralph Fiennes on
the set of his second film as a director, "The Invisible Woman,"
about Charles Dickens and the woman who became his mistress.

Fiennes told CBS
News correspondent Anthony Mason that he had been "pretty much
ignorant" of Dickens and his work, having been consumed by Shakespeare
while he was in the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"I hadn't
gone down any Dickens road - not for any negative reason, I just hadn't really.
And so it was only when I read an early draft of this screenplay of this film,
'The Invisible Woman,' and subsequently Claire Tomalin's book -- suddenly this
man who I'd only had sort of goblets of information about, didn't really know
much about, he's coming at me."

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"Wuthering Heights:

Born in 1962 in
Ipswich, England, Ralph Fiennes - an eighth cousin of the Prince of Wales - was
raised in a family of artists: a photographer father, and a writer mother, his
five siblings included fellow actor Joseph Fiennes, filmmakers Martha and
Sophie Fiennes, and composer Margnus Fiennes.

Ralph studied at
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and later joined the Royal Shakespeare
Company.

His film debut
was in the 1992 film version of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights,"
as Heathcliff opposite Juliette Binoche's Catherine.

"Strange Days"

"The English Patient"

Ralph Fiennes
played Count Laszlo de Almasy, a Hungarian nobleman and cartographer mapping
the Sahara Desert, in the 1996 romantic drama, "The English Patient."

Credit: Miramax

"The English Patient"

Ralph Fiennes and
Kristen Scott Thomas as lover in the 1996 romantic drama, "The English
Patient." The film won the Oscar for Best Picture; both Fiennes and Scott
Thomas received Academy Award nominations.

"Oscar and Lucinda"

"The Avengers"

Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman starred as secret agents John Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel in the big-screen version of the classic 1960s spy series, "The Avengers."

Credit: Warner Brothers

"Sunshine"

Ralph Fiennes played three roles in Istvan Szabo's "Sunshine," a multi-generational tale of a family's experience through several turbulent decades of Hungary's history.

Credit: Paramount Classics

"The End of the Affair"

Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes rekindle a wartime romance in "The End of the Affair."

Credit: Columbia Pictures

"Spider"

Ralph Fiennes
with director David Cronenberg on the set of "Spider."

When asked in
2003 about his attraction to darker roles, Fiennes told CBS' "The Early
Show," "I suppose I'm interested in people, there's an ambivalence in
people's inner life. I like the conflict inside people. I think people who are
struggling - it's always interesting."

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"Spider"

Ralph Fiennes played a man released from a mental institution who suffers the memories of his mother's murder at the hands of his father (Gabriel Byrne) in "Spider." With Miranda Richardson.

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"Red Dragon"

Ralph Fiennes played a schizophrenic serial killer in "Red Dragon," the prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs." The film co-starred Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.

Credit: MGM

"Maid in Manhattan"

Jennifer Lopez is a chambermaid and Ralph Fiennes a hot-shot politico who meet cute in the rom-com "Maid in Manhattan."

Credit: Columbia PIctures

Irish Film and Television Awards

Actor Ralph Fiennes attends the Irish Film and Television Awards at the Burlington Hotel on November 1, 2003 in Dublin, Ireland.

Credit: ShowBizIreland/Getty Images

"The Constant Gardener"

In "The
Constant Gardener" (2005), based on the John le Carre novel, Ralph Fiennes
plays a British diplomat increasingly frustrated by his wife's secretive
behavior.

"There are
two equal parts to this movie," Fiennes said. "On the one hand, it's
a political thriller about corporate wrongdoing, malfeasance and manipulation.
On the other, it's about the relationship between Justin and Tessa Quayle
[played by Rachel Weisz].

"Justin's
journey traces not only what Tessa was investigating; he's also playing
detective about their relationship, [and] rediscovers and re-assesses his own
relationship with his wife. It's a wonderful part, because he goes from being a
reticent nice guy to being someone who is forced to confront some pretty tough
truths about the world."

Weisz won the
Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

Credit: Focus Features

Ralph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes

Actors and brothers Ralph Fiennes (left) and Joseph Fiennes attend the after-party following The Constant Gardener" Opening Gala for The Times BFI London Film Festival, at the Park Lane Hotel on October 19, 2005 in London, England.

"In Bruges"

"The Duchess"

In "The
Duchess," Ralph Fiennes played a philandering, cruel 18th century English
Duke who begins an affair when his wife (Keira Knightley) does not deliver him
a son.

Credit: Pathe

Toronto International Film Festival

Ralph Fiennes and Kiera Knightley speak at "The Duchess" press conference during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, at the Sutton Place Hotel on September 7, 2008 in Toronto, Canada.

Credit: Malcolm Taylor/Getty Images

"The Hurt Locker"

Ralph Fiennes played a British mercenary in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning Iraq War drama, "The Hurt Locker."

Credit: Summit Entertainment

"The Reader"

In "The
Reader," Ralph Fiennes played the older version of the film's central
figure, who as a teenager has an affair with an older woman (Kate Winslet). She
is later revealed to have been an SS camp guard during the war, and Fiennes is
drawn to make up for his own complicity - his silence - in her prosecution.

Credit: Miramax

"The Reader" Premiere

David Kross, Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes attend the premiere of "The Reader" at the Ziegfeld Theater on December 3, 2008 in New York City.

Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

New York City

Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes attend the opening night of "Mary Stuart" Off-Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 19, 2009 in New York City.

Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

"Clash of the Titans"

Ralph Fiennes as Hades, God of the Underworld, in the fantasy, "Clash of the Titans."

Credit: Warner Brothers

"Coriolanus"

Ralph Fiennes plays a Roman general who seeks revenge upon the state that branded him a traitor, in the modern-day film adaptation of Shakespeare's bloodiest play, "Coriolanus." It was Fiennes' first film as a director.

Credit: Weinstein Company

"Coriolanus"

Ralph Fiennes in "Coriolanus."

Credit: Weinstein Company

Salute to Vanessa Redgrave

Attending the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' salute to Vanessa Redgrave, at the Curzon Soho Cinema in London on November 13, 2011: From left, Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Fiennes, screenwriter/host David Hare, Franco Nero and Meryl Streep.

Credit: AMPAS

London Film Festival

Actor-director Ralph Fiennes attends the "Coriolanus" press conference during the 55th BFI London Film Festival at the Vue West End on October 16, 2011 in London.

Credit: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

"Skyfall"

Ralph Fiennes played the political overseer of MI6 who is pretty handy with a weapon himself, in the James Bond adventure, "Skyfall."

Credit: Sony/MGM

"Skyfall" Premiere

Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Craig and Berenice Marlohe attend the Royal World Premiere of "Skyfall" at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23, 2012 in London, England.

Credit: Eamonn McCormack/Getty Images

Poets' Corner

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, listen as actor Ralph Fiennes speaks during a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London to mark the bicentenary of the birth of British author Charles Dickens, February 7, 2012. Dickens was buried in the Abbey's Poets' Corner in 1870.

Credit: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images

"The Invisible Woman"

Ralph Fiennes as Charles Dickens and Felicity Jones as his mistress, Nelly Ternan, in "The Invisible Woman." It was Fiennes' second film as director.

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"The Invisible Woman"

Ralph Fiennes
directed and stars in "The Invisible Woman," about the author Charles
Dickens and his affair with a young aspiring actress, Nelly Ternan (Felicity
Jones, center). The film also stars Fiennes' "English Patient"
costar, Kristen Scott Thomas, as Nelly's mother.

"I was
really moved by 'Nelly's] story," Fiennes told Mason, "by the story
of a woman who is trying to find some sense of closure with a previous love
affair, [which] happens to be with Charles Dickens. But what moved me was what
is it like to not have had some kind of resolution with a past intimacy. That's really what led me."

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

"The Invisible Woman"

Fiennes described
Dickens as a man of "ferocious energy, a man who can't stop working,
writing not only installments of his novels but editing a magazine. He's
putting on amateur productions of plays -- the director and the actor. He's producing a big family. He's socially engaged at a level that is
terrifying. He loves social engagement,
taking on charitable causes.

"What comes off
the page of the novels is this extraordinary imagination. I'm so glad I've come
to Dickens at the age that I am because I haven't had the burden of teachers
saying, 'Write this essay,' or 'This is what you've got to study.' I haven't had to study him. I've just completely enjoyed this incredible,
descriptive imagination and comedic sensibility. Amazing."

Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Toronto International Film Festival

Actress Felicity Jones and actor-director Ralph Fiennes of 'The Invisible Woman' pose at the Guess Portrait Studio during 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images

New York Film Festival

Actors Ralph Fiennes and Joanna Scanlan attend the Gala Tribute To Ralph Fiennes during the 51st New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on October 9, 2013 in New York City.

Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

"Great Expectations"

Having played
Dickens, Ralph Fiennes also recently starred in Mike Newell's new film version
of Dickens' "Great Expectations," playing Magwitch opposite Toby
Irvine as Young Pip.

"There's a
range of adjectives [Dickens] describes to use the first appearance of Magwitch
as a man who sort of literally emerges out of the shadows of a graveyard to
frighten young Pip.

"And I think I'm
meant to be scared by this guy. He is
capable of violence and harm. But he's
also got a sense of honor in him which comes through. Dickens likes to reveal
someone is capable of doing a good deed or capable of some kind of loyalty and
love. Magwitch is a great creation of Dickens: a convict who's been in
Australia, made some money, comes back -- he's the man who's given Pip all these
opportunities. Maybe [he's] the fantasy
that Dickens would have liked; he would have liked someone to magic him with
sort of a Pip-like life in London."

Credit: Lionsgate

"The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Ralph Fiennes, as
a hotel manager, with Saoirse Ronan in "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a
new comedy from writer-director Wes Anderson ("Moonrise Kingdom").